Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

In the car parts shop this morning.

`How can I help you`?
`Have you any 1/4" petrol hose`?
`It comes in mills.`
`OK 6 mill. will be fine`
`How much do you want`?
`Half a metre please`
`We sell it in feet` !!!

Eric in Burnley.

Yes, we never went metric properly, just half heartedly. I think it is a British trait. We still quote fuel consumption in miles per gallon, but buy our fuel in litres. Our milk comes in a 2.272 litre bottle because that is 4 pints.

My grandchildren will grow up being familiar with both systems I suspect. Either that or they will grow up completely confused. When working with my son on his house renovation, we alternate between metric and imperial measurements all the time. Bonkers!

Mike

................................ i think it's even worse stateside. i've been living in mm land since 65 (birth of my elan), so i really work in mil. HOWEVER, when i used to work in the UK (80's: motorsport) we were still using 1/4, eighths and even more worrysome: the gauging of sheet material - mm are so much easier. greetings from the alps sandy

If you think thats bonkes how about this. on aircrft I flew the Gauges where US Gallons, the Fuel uplift was Litres load sheet in lbs and I think the aircraft technical log was imperial. this is going from memory, but I do remember doing the conversation calulations very carefully

eric's initial shop experience is much like yours - i'm adding a brake-pad picture in a few min. : "takin' it to the max" cheers sandy

I row Olympic racing shells. Some boat makers use English measure nuts and bolts, some use metric.

We have a mixture of manufacturers. It would not be so bad, but for a race, we de-rig the boats (to minimize their width for trailering), load them on the boat trailer. At the race course we reverse the process.

You can imagine what can happen when the rowers who typically have no mechanical knowledge attempt to put this back together. It does not even help when sometimes there are both english and metric bolts on the same rigger. It is controlled chaos in the best of circumstances.

I spent time in the boat yard going through all the boats and making sure each boat had a complete set of compatible nuts and bolts. This sure helped.

At lest no one uses Whitworth!

David
1968 36/7988

...........................................WE forgot a reason WHY we DO NEED bolts and threads NOT ONLY IN mm!!!! in aircraft and racing engineering WE'd loose 5% weightadvantage if were forced to use the limited metrical threads instead of our lovely UNFs and UNCs - cheers (a bit like cheese isn't it? not swiss) sandy from the alps

Whitworth knew what he was doing!

Apparently, F1 cars are built using UNF imperial nuts and bolts due to the finer, and stronger, threads.

Been using both units since the 70s. When measuring I use the most convenient unit at the time. As long as you understand both units there isn't a problem.

What I can't get my head around, however, is litres per 100km. Mile per gallon till I die, even if it means dividing litres by 4.54609 (UK gallon)

the actual advantage is: almost twice as may sizes (both UNF: steel and UNC: for soft materials like parmesan cheese; no, i mean alluminium!!!!) so you can DIMENSION much more precisely!! sandy

I was sent to the greengrocers in the market yesterday
There was an offer of 3lb of cox apples for ?1.80 I'm sure a lot of younger people wouldn't have a clue what that was! Interesting how many older people use the market greengrocer (felt a bit out of place )
When I got back, SWMBO asked me if I got a kilo or a kilo and a half of carrots, but should she have said one point five.
Apparently I forgot to buy point five of a kilo of red onions
K

in France it's no better because when you do some plumbing the tube is in mm but the fittings are still even for French people in BSP. When you go to the market you can still buy a pounds (livres) of butter or a pound (livres) of cherries. Plus the Trains drive on the Left in France except the metro(and in Alsace region) which was the work of a French Engineer
Alan

But Alan, when you buy a pound (livre) of strawberries they sell you 500g, now being used as I am to French commer?ants ripping me off I always laugh to think of them giving away 46 grammes over and above the pound

The BSP pipe threads are expressed in a crazy manner which is supposed to reflect the major and minor thread diameter like 12/17 15/21 anything rather than admit that they are using an imperial thread.

(seulement de cerises et beurre sont vendu en demi livres ou 1/4 de livres) only cherries and butter are sold 1/2 or 1/4 pounds.
What about radial car tyres Dia Inches (thanks to Dunlop) and width mm (maybe Michelin).
Alan

Mangetout, Rodney!
What about car wheels - new ones still advertised in inches, filling tyre pressure in pounds, drinking beer in pints.....don't know about cherries though
K

they sell the destilled cherries in ml but also a pint of it if u want (at a pub). here everything is in mil except for wheel diameters (meters !!!!